COMM-125 Introduction to Journalism

Section 1- Language of instruction English

Wednesdays 15:00-18:00
Venue: NEWTON Amphitheatre
Lecture no. 11

Up to now we have written and told the

news in text (print), using the voice
(radio), and audio visually (TV).
Today we are
interactively.

going

to

tell

it

The news of the capture of Saddam

Hussein, could not have come at a
worse
time
for
the
American
newspapers.

The deposed Iraqi strongman, the

subject of an intense manhunt for
months, had been pulled of a "spider
hole" by American troops near his
home town of Tikrit on Saturday
evening, December 13, 2003.

Word of his capture had remained a

secret for about 12 hours while his
identity had been confirmed.
But by 5:00a.m. (eastern time) Sunday,
the news had begun to spread.

There were by then leaks from insiders

to the media.
Television and the web started
delivering to their audiences what
information they had.

At the same time newspapers were

landing on doorsteps and on sale on
newsracks and kiosks across the
country.

Sunday is the biggest day of the week

for them.

It is their largest circulation day.

It is the day they showcase their best
reporting, analyses, opinion articles,
design, photography and even gifts
and offers.

Yet, no major newspaper in the US

carried out a word about the capture of
the ex-Iraqi leader that Sunday
morning.
It was too late.

What most newspapers did however,

responding to the story, was a turn
away from their print products towards
their electronic ones, i.e. their
websites.

10

Hussein's capture represents just

another instance in which newspapers
have the chance to compete in the
world of breaking news, by acting
immediately, or with immediacy.

11

That chance did not exist before the

advent of the Internet and the World
Wide Web.
In today's world, however, the web
"threatens" to change just everything in
journalism.

12

The difference of the web

Internet, or Online journalism
journalism.

is

It's about ideas, its about observation,

it's about what you are actually going
to put on the page.

13

What makes a good story, makes a

good story online.
Because the values and sources are
the same.
So, the essence of the web is news

14

 but the web is not, at least literally, a

newspaper on a computer screen.
or a broadcast station that you can pick
up through a browser.

15

It
is
different
from
traditional/conventional media in some
significant and profound ways that we
are going to examine.

16

Capacity
A newspaper might be confined to
writing 500 or 600 words for a story. A
photojournalist might spend all day
covering an event and expect to have
only one, maximum two of his/her
pictures in print.

17

At a broadcast station, a reporter would

have only 40 seconds to tell a story,
and a five minute statement from a
news source would have to be reduced
to a five-second sound bite.

18

All of these journalists experience the

two great frustrations (limitations at the
end of the day) of professional
journalism: the lack of time and space.

19

The web greatly mitigates, if not

entirely eliminates, these limitations. A
reporter can take as many words or as
much time necessary to tell the story.

20

He/she can post all the pictures taken

from an event, despite some screen
width limitations (see web large
640X480px, or small 448X336px
sizes).

21

With the web news reporters can

include in their stories the full text of
speeches, biographical information on
their sources, maps, charts, graphics,
photos, audio and video (video framing
is another limitation related to screen
width).

22

To be sure, there are some other

limitations.
Servers for example that host websites
and store information, do have a finite
capacity, but generally it takes a long
time before those limits are reached.

23

More practically, the limitations of the

web
have
to
do
with
the
machine/medium (e.g. cell phone
device, tablet, laptop, desktop, PC,
Mac etc.) and browser that visitors are
using.

24

They also have to do with the time

required for loading and downloading,
the time and effort the reporter wants
to spend (and the news organization is
willing to support) in gathering the
information.

25

There are also virus limitations and

other similar obstacles.
But still the web offers more
possibilities for presenting more
information in more ways than either
print or broadcasting.

26

Flexibility
The web can handle a wide variety of
forms: text, pictures, audio, video,
graphics, and more, thanks to digital
convergence or mediamorphosis, after
the introduction of web 2.0 and the
standardization of Internet Protocols
(IPs).

27

In this regard , it is far more flexible

than print of broadcast.

28

The relative newness of the web as the

third electronic mass medium means
that many of these formats have not
been fully explored yet and there is a
great deal of room for imagination and
creativity on the part of the people
entering this field.

29

For instance, many news organizations

with substantial websites, regularly
produce photo galleries that the
paper's photographers have taken,
from different parts of the country and
from across the globe.

30

On many of these galleries, not only

can visitors see the pictures and read
the cutline text, but also can save, and
share them or even hear an audio of
the photographer talking about his or
her work.

31

The audio picture gallery is a new form

of presenting information that the web
has spawned.
There are many other forms waiting to
be created and developed by
imaginative and creative journalists.

32

Immediacy
The web can deliver information
immediately, often as events are
unfolding. Broadcasting, particularly
television, can do the same thing and
with great impact, as many of us
experienced on September 11, 2001.

33

But the web's qualities offer an

immediacy that broadcasting cannot
match in the following four important
ways:

34

Immediacy with Variety: Most major

breaking news events are multiface.
They involve a variety of people,
places and activities.

35

The September 11 example is one

such dramatic case in point, where we
had the hit and subsequent collapse of
the Twin Towers in New York, the
crashing of a plane into the Pentagon,
while the government was shutting
down air traffic across the country.

36

Meanwhile, an a local basis school

systems and government offices were
deciding whether or not to stay open.

37

A mother wondering if she should pick

up her child from school earlier that
day would probably not have found
that information on TV.

So she could log in to websites which

did that too.

38

In a less dramatic vein, let's say you

want to know the score of a sporting
event.
How likely are you to find that out
immediately when you turn on the
television or radio?

39

Only luck or coincidence could help

you and to some smaller extent the
teletext.
You can however find this information
far more quickly on a sport oriented
website.

40

Immediacy with Expansion: As noted

earlier, the web has a huge capacity to
hold and display information.

41

So while television generally only

shows and tells us one thing at a time,
which may or may not be what we are
interested in or what we want to know,
the web can often satisfy our need for
information more immediately, in an
expanding manner.

42

It can provide a variety of information

that users can select.
In the case for instance of any major
disaster story, one may want the
names of victims, especially the
relatives;

43

another
may
want
background
information about the disaster; another
may want the latest developments; and
so on.

A good news website can provide all of

these things so that readers can
choose.

44

Immediacy with Depth: Depth is

closely akin to capacity, but what we
are really talking about here is quality.

45

Breaking information can be posted

immediately on the website, but to get
it ready, it must undergo at least
minimal editing.

46

The broadcasts of a breaking news

event, though often done by people
who are though roughly professional,
have no buffer between their
creation and their distribution.

47

Because the web is essentially a word

medium, web journalists have some
opportunity to edit, or let others look at
their work, before it is disseminated.

Hence there is more depth on the

web
between
creation
and
distribution, even in breaking news.

48

Immediacy with Context: Finally the

web can offer immediacy with context,
something broadcasters find difficult to
provide with their breaking news
stories.

49

The limitations of television to provide

context are evident in the live coverage
of many events. Take golf matches for
example.

50

The camera and announcers may

concentrate on a single player or a
single shot while a graphic showing the
leader board or a smaller screen
window showing another player or shot
overlay part of the screen.

51

Still, those two or three things may not

tell the whole story of the match,
appearing out of the context, because
other important actions may be
occurring in different parts of the
course.

52

Watching a golf match on television, or

the heptathlon or decathlon during the
Olympic Games, is undoubtedly
dramatic for those interested in the
sport, but the difficulty in giving a
complete picture before the end, is
there.

53

The web on the other hand has the

power to summarize and lively update,
while adding information in various
parts of the coverage.

54

Permanence: Although the web can

seem
almost
as
ethereal
as
broadcasting, actually it is the most
permanent medium because it does
not deteriorate. Nothing need be lost.

55

Properly archived and maintained, data

on the web in its electronic form can
exist far beyond any tangible medium
we now have.

56

The
permanence
is
an
often
overlooked quality of the web, but it is
one that gives the medium great
power.

57

It has taken us some time to recognize

the permanence of the web and to put
it to good use.
Websites have been abandoned,
addresses have changed, and data
have been overwritten without being
properly saved.

58

Much that has been created during the

first decade of the web has been lost,
but those losses are not due to a
failure of the medium.

Rather, they
operators.

are

failures

of

the

59

This permanence leads to two other

qualities of the web that render it so
powerful:

60

Duplication: Because the web is such

an open medium and because the
technology that creates a website is
shared, any part of a website can be
duplicated and stored in a different
location from where it originated.

61

Duplication renders information on the

web safe because it can be stored in
various places.

62

Retrievability: This quality also

renders the web powerful, particularly
in the area of web journalism.
A simple example of this characteristic
is the Cypriot haircut (levy, bailout/bail-in) that is though roughly
covered by the local press.

63

Months later, someone is arrested and

accused and months after the trial
begins.

64

A reporter covering the trial may be

new to the organization, but he or she
can easily retrieve what has been
written before to become informed
about the background of the story.

65

Stories about the trial will probably

have at least a paragraph or two to
background material, but they can also
contain links to earlier stories that will
allow readers to gain insight into the
case.

66

Retrieving previous stories for the

reader is just one way that a single
article can be shown to be part of a
continuing story over days, months and
years.

67

Interactivity
Although all of the qualities of the web
listed previously (capacity, flexibility,
immediacy, and permanence) have the
potential of changing journalism as it is
practiced on the web, those qualities
pale against the potential the web has
for interactivity.

68

This quality portends a totally new

relationship between journalists and
readers/viewers, who are no longer
passive consumers, but proactive ones
(i.e. prosumers), who are no longer
pathetic receivers, but users.

69

This new relationship could mean a

new form of journalism.

70

All news media are interactive, to some

extent of course.
Television viewers and radio listeners
must turn their sets on to select
channels.

71

Remote controls allow them to switch

channels (do zapping) at will.
There
are
different
levels
of
interactivity: one way, local, full, linear,
non-linear

72

Beyond that, these media offer little

opportunities
to
interact,
giving
feedback or comments while programs
are being broadcast.

73

For example not all shows are reality,

allowing you to intervene, either via
phone, or via messaging through social
networks.

74

75

Newspapers and magazines are also

interactive, in the sense that readers
can choose what parts to read or
ignore.

76

Headlines, refers (or reefers - text that

directs readers to another page/part of
the paper), layouts, and sectioning,
help readers make such choices.

77

But print media offer no channel

through which readers can immediately
respond or interact with the journalists
who have produced the publication.

78

Web journalism offers the same

choices that print media offer, only
more of them.

79

Whereas the choices in newspapers

are pages and headlines, the choices
on the web can be built into the articles
and web pages with hyperlinks (read
more, read further etc.).

80

These allow readers to veer off within a

story to information that is most
interesting or relevant to them.

81

An array of choices gives readers more

control over what they see and read,
and it heightens the nonlinearity of the
web itself.

82

Where the web is really different,

however, is with the immediate
feedback channel that it offers to users
and journalists alike.

83

News websites use techniques for

channeling this feedback, such as
instant polls, email, forums, discussion
groups, comments, and online chats
with reporters, even editors, and
sources.

84

These channels can be immediate and

active, and as web journalism
develops, they will become an
increasingly important part of the
journalist's milieu, further enhancing
the interactivity.

85

Even when comments are closed in

some publications or posts, the user
can still share the story, commenting
with a cutline text, give it a new
headline, tag the website, or do all
these.

86

This new relationship will have

profound effects on the way journalists
gather
information
and
make
decisions.

Readers are likely to become sources

of information and lead journalists to
new inquiries and stories.

87

They
could
provide
valuable
perspective to journalists who are new
to a story or not part of the community
they cover (two of the major criticisms
of journalists today), offering points of
view that journalists would not normally
hear in talking with "official" sources
about their stories.

88

The public journalism movement (also

known as civic, citizen, participatory,
democratic, guerilla or street), based
upon citizens playing an active role in
the process of collecting, judging,
deciding and disseminating news could
be taken to a new level with the web.

89

Already lay people, through usergenerated-content in any form, such as

blogs, wikis, discussion forums, posts,
chats, tweets, podcasting, pins, digital
images, video, audio files, have
become producers and journalists
themselves.

90

So why not also participate in the

professional news production process
too?

91

The other side of interactivity is that

while the audience can reach toward
the news organization, the news
organization can find out more about
the audience.

92

An organization may ask or require

that users register to see its site,
gaining valuable data on who is looking
at any site.

93

But the technology of the web allows

those who run websites to be less
intrusive in finding out information
about their visitors.

94

Data can be gathered on where hits

are coming from, both from individual
computer
IPs
and
the
URLs
immediately before the hit.

95

The website can also track a user's

progress through the site even to the
point of seeing how long the user
spends looking at a particular page
and even the resolution of the screen
you are using.

96

Developing
email
lists
(sending
newsletters for example) and forums
are other ways of gathering information
about users.

97

With these and other methods, it is

very easy for an organization to see
what the most popular parts (and least
popular ones) of a website are and to
make editorial and advertising rate
decisions accordingly.

98

Few news organizations have gone

that far yet, but they inevitably will do
so.
Such
data
will
allow
news
organizations to develop content to
better serve general and specialized
audiences.

99

These
characteristics:
capacity,
flexibility, immediacy, permanence,
and interactivity, set the web apart from
traditional media.

100

The news website

News websites of the early 21st century
represent a hybrid. They contain the
content of media that are from a
century (radio and television) to four
centuries (newspaper) years old,
presented with a technology that is still
in its first generation.

101

Where did news websites come from?

What are they now? What are they
likely to be in both the near and the
distinct future?
None of these questions is easily
answered, and maybe none is
ultimately that important as the web
develops and changes.

102

But the news website, whatever it was,

is and will be, is the major form of
practice of web journalism and will be
for the foreseeable future.

103

The
web's
capacity,
flexibility,
immediacy,
permanence,
and
interactivity have not been fully
explored or exploited by any news
organization.

104

Newspapers, news magazines, radio

and television stations, whose history
and investments have been in other
products, have been and still are timid
in approaching the web.

105

Yet, the strength of their acceptance by

the public as credible sources of news
and their financial commitment to the
production of news make them the first
and foremost players in this new field
of web journalism.

106

A news website is a site that is devoted

to delivering timely news and
information to its audience. Those
producing the site observe the
traditional customs and practices of
journalism in gathering, writing, and
presenting the news.

107

A news website is a means for a news

organization to display and distribute
its content. That content is directed at
an audience that is defined either by
interest or geography.

108

A news organization's website can use

one of the following four methods of
populating the site with content.

109

Shovelware
This term, refers to the practice of
simply shifting the content produced by
the organization for another medium
(newspaper, radio, or television) to the
website with little or no change.

110

What you see in the newspaper or

hear on the television is what goes on
the website and this is the reason why
the term is often used in a defaming
way by people interested in web
development.

111

Used for a variety of reasons:

First and foremost, it's cheap and easy.
The news stories and pictures are
already there, having been produced
for the traditional medium, and they
can be easily transferred to the
website.

112

Many newspapers have found software

that will allow them to do this almost
seamlessly from their editing systems.
Consequently, it takes little time and
effort (and little extra money) to get
content onto the web.

113

Another reason for shovelware is that it

works.
News stories written in an inverted
pyramid form are appropriate for the
web.

114

They give the most important or

interesting information first and then
present information in descending
order of importance.

Ideally, they are written concisely and

precisely, all qualities that good writing
for the web demands.

115

News organizations that shovel their

print content onto their website come
away with a well-populated site at little
or no extra cost.

116

They have extended their brand to the

web, they have reached people who
might not be subscribers, and they
have
created
new
advertising
opportunities.
The information comes in a form
readers are used to seeing.

117

Updating: moderate vs. aggressive

Most news organizations know by now
the immediacy function of the web.
They also know that a growing number
of their audience turn to the web when
breaking news occurs or when that
kind of information is anticipated.

118

For instance, if a press conference is

called for 14:00, upon a short notice,
even if a TV or radio station appears
there to cover it, they will probably not
be able to include it in their next news
bulletin (17:00 or 18:00 for the former
and 15:00 for the latter) and they will
definitely not cover it live (too costly).

119

But a significant number of people who

are interested want to know what was
announced at the conference.
The logical alternative is the news
website, which can be updated as
soon as the information is known.

120

As long as it is not using a rigid content

management system, i.e. one which is
moderately managed by an outside
company, but a web CMS system,
handled internally, easily, quickly and
aggressively, then this is possible.

121

The second type of site management

employs staff members who post new
items regularly, throughout the day.
This kind of updating begins with the
shovelware that the organization has
produced for its other product (print or
broadcast).

122

The website staff will look at these

stories and see which ones might
involve breaking news.
For instance, a newspaper might run a
previous story in the morning edition
about a meeting of the city council
scheduled for that day.

123

The council, the story says, is set to

vote on a proposed increase in
professional taxes. The website staff
will make arrangements with the
reporter covering the meeting to find
out how the council voted, soon after it
happens,
updating
the
story
accordingly.

124

This process of rewriting an existing

story, or rewriting the top paragraphs
of a story with new information,
sometimes take on the old wire service
term of a writethru.

125

The website staff may also look for

ways to enhance content that does not
need to be updated.
For instance, a newspaper may have
room to run just one picture along with
a story.

126

The capacity of the website can

accommodate many more than that,
and the staff may want to set up a
photo gallery with other good shots
that were not used.

127

Likewise, a television reporter may

have audio or video related to a story
that could not be included in the
regular newscast but may be suitable
for the website.

128

Radio stations operating a CMS

website, fill it with news stories based
on information collected during their
morning, mostly informative, prime time
zone, through the many telephone
interviews with government and other
officials, politicians or athletes.

129

News organizations that subscribe to

news services may build in a feed for
those services to the site.
As stories are produced and sent by
the wire service, they automatically
appear on the site.

130

A new story can show up every few

minutes, and on the splash page of the
site, headline links to these stories will
be constantly changed.

131

Having the site change every few

minutes or even few hours is one of the
hallmarks of aggressive updating.
Those who work with the web believe
that a site should continually change
and present new information.

132

Web CMS systems allow editors to

mark more than one story (four and
more) or picture that should be placed
at the top of the opening page or
section page, or home page.

133

These items, called feature stories (not

necessarily feature articles), will then
"rotate"; that is, change positions on
the page as is refreshed.

Rotation gives the site the appearance

of having new information all the time.

134

Original content
Utilizing the aggressive updating
philosophy, most news organizations
today have gone a step beyond: the
developing of original content to their
websites, and not just shovelwaring.

135

These organizations have developed

staffs who are devoted to using the
website for original reporting and
interviewing.

136

Original content sites are likely to have

their own advertising staffs in addition
to their editorial staffs.

137

Advertising
managers
and
salespersons are not only involved in
selling ads for the site, but they also
track site hits (the site web stats) and
try to keep with the demographics of
site users.

138

To the extent that the leadership of the

news organization demands it, these
web ad staffs work with the advertising
staffs for the traditional media to
enhance the sales for both.

139

Owned and operated

Who owns a news website? As we
alluded to in the previous section, most
news websites are owned by traditional
news media companies, such as
newspapers, television stations, radio
stations and news magazines.

140

These sites not only show the content,

but they also reflect the structure,
appearance, and even values of the
news organization itself.

In short, they are an extension of the

brand of the news organization.

141

A significant number of news websites

however, do not necessarily come from
established news organizations but
spring from the minds and efforts of
individuals or small groups.

142

They are produced for various reasons

and with a variety of approaches (less
traditional,
more
creative
and
innovative), but all with the assumption
that on the web, initially, my personal
web log (in short blog), or page can
look as big as the New York Times.

143

In fact, these owners are usually nonnews organizations, demonstrating the

nature and power of the web and the
expectations that people have for
finding new information.

144

Thus the web has made them into

alternative
news
organizations,
whether or not that was their original
intention.

145